Charles McLean Andrews papers

The Charles McLean Andrews Papers consist of correspondence, research files, writings, photographs, and memorabilia, which document the personal life and professional career of Charles McLean Andrews, his wife Evangeline Walker Andrews, and other family members. More than half of the correspondence is between Walker and Andrews family members, and the major correspondents in the papers, besides Andrews and his wife are: Andrews's parents William Watson and Elizabeth Byrne Williams Andrews; his sisters Mary Williams and Elizabeth Parkhill Andrews; Evangeline Andrews's mother and sister, Laura Marion Seymour Brandt and Ethel McCoy Walker Smith; and the Andrews's children, Ethel Andrews Murphy Harlan and John Williams Andrews. Charles McLean Andrews's education and early career are detailed in family correspondence, as are Evangeline Walker Andrews's Bryn Mawr activities, travels, and historical and theatrical interests and writings. The correspondence also chronicles the development of the Ethel Walker School and the lives of the Andrews's children.

The papers document, though less extensively, Charles McLean Andrews historical research, writing, and publishing. Frequent correspondents include fellow historians, co-authors, former students (many of them women), librarians, and archivists. The professional correspondence consists primarily of incoming letters and reflects more of the correspondents' careers and activities than those of Andrews. Research and writings files detail Andrews's studies in colonial history and preparation of guides to source material in British and American libraries and archives.

Evangeline Walker Andrews and John Williams Andrews gave the majority of the papers to the Yale Library between 1944 and 1970. (Andrews's sister Elizabeth Parkhill Andrews deposited additional early family correspondence in the Connecticut Historical Society.) The papers date from 1723 to 1967, but the bulk of the material spans the period 1885 to 1956. The papers are arranged in six series: I. CORRESPONDENCE, 1792-1956; II. RESEARCH FILES, 1893-1943; III. WRITINGS, 1891-1952; IV. ALBUMS AND SCRAPBOOKS, 1860-1943; V. EVANGELINE W. ANDREWS PAPERS, 1863-1966; and VI. MISCELLANEA, 1723-1967; and one addition.

Series II, III, and VI contain material relating primarily to Charles McLean Andrews. The other series contain material relating to many members of the Andrews and Walker families.

Series I, CORRESPONDENCE, is the largest series and comprises half of the papers. The series is arranged in chronological order and dates from 1792 to 1956. An alphabetical list of correspondents is appended at the end of this register, and correspondence to or from individuals named on this list and others may be located by consulting the Manuscripts and Archives Departmental Catalog.

The first half of the series is composed almost entirely of family correspondence. Members of the Andrews and Walker families habitually used various pet names in addressing each other. A glossary of such names includes:

Evangeline Walker Andrews: Van, Vangie, Tweedles, Bannie, or Mudsy

Ethel Walker Smith: Diddle, Atty.

Julia Lincoln Ray Andrews: Dobbin

Elizabeth Parkhill Andrews: Bess, Betsy

Mary Williams Andrews: Mamie

Elizabeth Roberts Andrews: Liza

Laura Walker Brandt: Mumsey

Ethel Andrews Harlan: Blessing

The earliest correspondence is that of William Watson Andrews, but the bulk of the correspondence dates after Charles McLean Andrews's graduation from Trinity College. Letters to his mother in 1885 describe Andrews's teaching position in West Hartford. Letters beginning in 1886 describe his graduate studies in history at Johns Hopkins, dissertation research, and a teaching position at Bryn Mawr. The first exchanges between Andrews and his future wife are found in the correspondence for 1893, and from their engagement until marriage in June 1895 there are almost daily exchanges of notes and letters describing social life and work at Bryn Mawr. The succeeding correspondence chronicles the births of children, research and travel in Europe, and the life at Bryn Mawr, Johns Hopkins, Yale. Letters refer to friendships with Otis and Maud Skinner and others active in education and the theater. Included in the files are many picture post cards from European travels and summer vacations in New England and upstate New York.

There is extensive family correspondence containing discussions of the founding of the Ethel Waker School in Lakewood, New Jersey, in 1911 and the school's move to its permanent site in Simsbury, Connecticut, in 1917. Exchanges between Evangeline Walker Andrews and her sister Ethel Walker detail the first years of the school's existence, while letters from Ethel Andrews to her parents describe the life of a student at the school. Evangeline Walker Andrews lived in residence at the school for several years while Charles Andrews lived in New Haven and travelled on research trips. As a result there are many exchanges between the two which depict life at the Ethel Walker School, ongoing historical research and editing, and family life. Letters from son John tell of his education at the Taft School and Yale (Class of 1920) and his military and pilot's training following the outbreak of World War I. The 1916 correspondence includes a series of letters relative to a controversy at Bryn Mawr over the administration of President M. Carey Thomas, and letters from daughter Ethel tell of her experience at the college.

From 1919 to 1920 Ethel Andrews studied drama with George Pierce Baker at Harvard. Her letters describe playwriting efforts, a subsequent move to New York, interests in the stage, marriage to architect Henry Killam Murphy (1920 Dec), and their trip to China. At about the same time John Andrews worked as a writer and journalist in China, and his letters report on some of the desperate economic and social conditions he witnessed.

The proportion of family correspondence decreases from the 1920s through 1943, but there is enough included in the papers to follow the personal lives and activities of several family members. Ethel Andrews divorced Murphy in 1926 and married John Marshall Harlan in 1928. John Williams Andrews pursued a career in law, writing, government service, and public relations and married Elizabeth Roberts in 1934. Letters of Charles and Evangeline Andrews to family members describe their travels around the world in 1926 and 1927, and vacations at their residences in East Dover, Vermont and Jupiter, Florida. Evangeline Andrews's correspondence also describes her work raising funds for Bryn Mawr and her activities as Connecticut state president of the National Society of the Colonial Dames of America. There continue to be frequent letters from Ethel Walker following her marriage to Dr. Terry Smith. These letters concern her travels, the Ethel Walker School, and friends from Bryn Mawr.

Scattered throughout the first half of the correspondence are occasional letters from Charles McLean Andrews's professional colleagues which relate to his teaching appointments and research. There are many congratulatory letters in the 1906 files on Andrews's appointment to the faculty at Johns Hopkins University. Correspondence in the 1910 files with George Burton Adams, Max Farrand, and Arthur T. Hadley concerns Andrews's appointment at Yale.

Supplementing these sparse early professional files is a transcript of Andrews's letters, 1906-1910, to John Franklin Jameson which relate to Andrews's work on his Guides (folder 1028). There is also correspondence with co-author Mary Dyer Williams McLean concerning The Ancestors and Descendants of Ezekiel Williams of Wethersfield, 1608-1907 .

Beginning in the 1920s the incoming professional letters are more numerous. There are frequent letters from fellow historians, editors, and librarians such as Jameson, Kanichi Asakawa, R.D.W. Connor, James Truslow Adams, Julian Boyd, Clarence G. Carter, Max Farrand, Evarts Boutell Greene, Burton Alva Konkle, Samuel Eliot Morison, Charles Seymour, and George Dudley Seymour. Letters from George Dutcher concern the work of the Connecticut Tercentenary Commission. Publications of the commission are also the subject of letters from A.C. Bates. There are numerous letters from George Parmly Day concerning historical publications of the Yale University Press as well as personal news.

The most frequent correspondents represented in the second half of the series are Andrews's graduate students and former students who discuss their teaching, research, and personal lives. Represented among them are: Charles Albro Barker, Ruth Mary Bourne, William R. Bridgewater, Isabel M. Calder, Dora Mae Clark, Mary Patterson Clark, Charles Crittenden, Hasting Eells, Florence Fast, Susan Fitzgerald, Laurence Gipson, Clarence Gould, Gertrude Ann Jacobsen, Cecil Johnson, Leonard Labaree, Ralph Lounsbury, Edith McQueen, Robert E. Moody, Jarvis M. Morse, Nellie Neilson, Stanley McCrory Pargellis, Clarence Rife, George Herbert Ryden, and Dorothy Towle.

There are six boxes of correspondence following Charles McLean Andrews's death in 1943. The correspondence is primarily between family-members and concerns the careers and personal lives of the Andrews's children and grandchildren. Evangeline Andrews's correspondence with George Parmly Day concerns the publication of Jonathan Dickinson's journal, which she had co-edited with her husband. There is also correspondence with Labaree and others concerning memorials to Charles McLean Andrews at Yale and Bryn Mawr and with Abraham Eisenstadt and John Beverley Riggs concerning biographies of Andrews.

Series II is composed of notes made by Andrews in his research on colonial America and on historical sources. Folders in the section General contain notes on collections of materials or transcripts of documents which are organized according to the institution holding the items. Folders in the section Topics include copies of documents, citation lists, notes, writings, lecture notes, notebooks, charts, maps, correspondence, printed matter, and writings of others relative to the topics listed. At the end of the series are many photostats of colonial documents.

Series III includes drafts, notes, research material, illustrations, and correspondence for a small percentage of Andrews's books, articles, speeches, and other writings. Only three books are represented: Colonial Period of American History (4 volumes), God's Protecting Providence, and The Ancestors and Descendants of Ezekiel Williams of Wethersfield, 1608-1907. Files for the last title include family correspondence with Robert Coleman Walker and others concerning family members in LaPorte, Indiana. The Addresses and Articles section includes few of the titles on the bibliography of Andrews's works compiled by Leonard Labaree and George W. Pierson. The section is primarily composed of handwritten notes and drafts rather than printed copies. Folder 892 includes an itinerary of the Andrews family's travels on research and vacation trips. At the end of the series are papers written for Andrews by graduate students, which are organized by student name, and copies of questions asked by Andrews on examinations of graduate students.

Series IV includes albums and scrapbooks belonging to Charles Andrews and other family members. The album in folder 934 contains photographs of the Andrews household at Bryn Mawr and includes numerous pictures of the Andrews children. Folder 935 contains photographs of an around the world tour about 1914. It includes many pictures taken in the Far East and Egypt. Since the Andrewses were not abroad at that time it seems likely that this album belonged to another family member, possibly Henry Killam Murphy. The album in folder 936 contains a collection of formal portraits of both Union and Confederate Civil War officers, politicians, theater people, and unidentified family members, while the album in folder 937 is a class album containing portraits of faculty, students, and friends of Charles McLean Andrews while he was at Trinity College.

The Scrapbooks section of Series IV includes several scrapbooks kept by Charles McLean Andrews over the course of his entire life. In the scrapbooks he placed correspondence, clippings, book reviews, printed material, and memorabilia from some of the more significant events in his life such as graduations, job appointments, the publication of books, and professional honors and awards. In order to conserve these materials the scrapbooks were taken apart and the correspondence added to Series I. Other materials from the scrapbooks are filed unbound in folders 938-944. Scrapbooks of correspondence and memorabilia from Andrews's trips to Europe in 1896 and 1898 are in folders 947-948.

Series V is composed of correspondence, printed material, memorabilia, and photographs relating primarily to Evangeline Andrews but also to her children, sister, and other members of her family. There are several files of correspondence, notes, clippings, sketches, and memorabilia relating to Evangeline Andrews's alumnae, theatrical, and fund-raising activities for Bryn Mawr College. There are similar files for her work with the Colonial Dames; these also include minutes, reports, and architectural plans for historic preservation and restoration projects. Folders 951-954 concern efforts by the Andrewses, George Parmly Day, and Wilhelmine Day to promote the operatic career of singer Everette Ralph Alexander. These files include programs, photographs, and memorabilia as well as correspondence. The series also includes two volumes of mounted condolence letters received by Evangeline Andrews on the death of Charles McLean Andrews. Folders 977-979 contain transcripts of letters to Ethel Andrews Murphy Harlan, from her parents. Included under the heading "Family papers" are memorabilia, printed material, and photographs relating to several family members.

The series contains several files concerning the travels of the Andrews family. Boxes 93 and 94 contain postcards from various trips abroad, including the 1926-1927 world tour which is chronicled in the diaries, account books, and family letters in folders 993-998. At the end of the series are several folders containing Evangeline Andrews's own writings, including plays, masques, poems, speeches, and a film script. Included also is a journal kept by Evangeline Andrews which is a combination diary and commonplace book. Some of the entries in the volume relate to time spent at the Ethel Walker School.

Series VI, MISCELLANEA, contains organizational files of agendas, minutes, reports, and correspondence relating to Charles McLean Andrews's committee work for the America Historical Association, the Colonial Williamsburg, Inc. Advisory Committee of Historians, and the Connecticut Tercentenary Commission Committee on Historical Publications. The series also includes an autobiographical sketch and several biographical sketches and assessments of Andrews and his research. The series concludes with photographs and memorabilia of Andrews and other family members. The memorabilia includes several 18th century pamphlets collected by Andrews.

The addition consists of 175 off-prints of articles written by various authors, with notes and marginalia by Andrews.